Rejecting the faith of Depeche Mode

In his latest book The Prodigal God, Tim Keller writes about C.S. Lewis and his friends in the Inklings. Lewis wrote many words about the passing of one of their companions and the loss of a communal relationship with him. Keller concludes:

Lewis is saying that it took a community to know an individual. How much more would this be true of Jesus Christ? Christians commonly say they want to "get to know Jesus better." You will never be able to do that by yourself. You must be deeply involved in the church, in Christian community, with strong relationships of love and accountability. Only if you are part of a community of believers seeking to resemble, serve and love Jesus will you ever get to know him and grow into his likeness. (p. 127)

During my freshman year of college I met many wonderful people including one fellow freshman who was frustrated by the church experiences in our college town. She suggested that instead of attending a church she would remain in her dorm room and read the Scriptures and good faith-related books, holding up Lewis' Great Divorce as one of her prime options. At the time I couldn't hold my own water in the discussion and could only counter her ideas with things like "but we have to go to church!"

I think Keller (and Lewis by extension) point to one of the problems we face in all aspects of our culture today. We want to "know" everybody (raise your hand if you have more than 1,000 Facebook friends) but we don't really have relationships with them. "Love and accountability" are foreign terminology to us unless they mean something like sexual relationships and friends we watch The Office with religiously every week.

The church at large has recognized this problem slowly and has moved toward more-traditional forms of relationship, but always cloaked with many modern flavors. Think of the common evangelical phrases: "Personal relationship with Jesus." "Accountability partners" are the modern substitute for private and corporate confession. Unfortunately we lose the insight and value of those around us when we limit our relationships to a personal, individual level. Living a block away from my house, the four Mercy volunteers are all incredible individuals, but seeing them in fellowship and community together brings out certain reactions and antics that don't appear without the other three.

This idea of Christian community is what has driven me personally to Detroit and to the pursuits we feel called to follow. It is what has birthed movements like The Ekklesia Project and the early rumblings of an Anglican discussion that is based on resembling, serving and loving Christ in community.

There are dangers to pushing this idea of community, especially recognizing the significant value placed on our American (in this case, Enlightenment) ideals of individualism and privacy. The truth must be accepted that Christ did not call us to serve him merely in our own homes but to follow him to the ends of the earth, and with that I would rather sacrifice my personal space to better know him in community in the Body of Christ.